Kapitulation von General Burgoyne

Congress commissioned this in 1817 as one of four giant scenes for the Capitol rotunda, where it still hangs. Trumbull painted the surrender at Saratoga in October 1777, the moment that convinced France the American rebels might actually win, which brought French troops and money into the war. At the center the British general Burgoyne offers up his sword, and the American commander Horatio Gates declines to take it, waving him instead toward a tent for refreshment. Trumbull had served briefly as an aide to General Washington and cared about getting the uniforms and faces right, painting many of them from life over the years. He was paid 8,000 dollars for the canvas, a large sum then, and supervised its hanging himself.